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Another day, another touch of technology.
The Nasdaq Composite has been outperforming the rest of the market this year, but the preference for the heavy tech index appears to have ended this week. Shortly after Thursday’s opening, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down approximately 0.8%. If the day ends the way it started, the Nasdaq will underperform the Dow for the fifth day in a row.
It has been a disappointing day for the data. China, which saw its economy grow at a rate of 3.2%, beating expectations of a 2% increase, but retail sales fell 1.8%, when they were expected to grow. The Shanghai Composite fell 4.5%, its biggest decline since February 3. “While many focused on Chinese GDP data better than expected, the underlying data did not look good, with negative retail sales versus an expected positive number,” writes NatAlliance Securities Andrew Brenner.
The Shanghai compound fell 4.5% on Thursday but continues to rise 11% in the past month. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.5%.
The US economic news was also mixed. While retail sales rose 7.5%, beating expectations of 5%, 1.3 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance, more than the 1.25 million predicted by economists. “A decrease in the drop in claims is troubling,” writes Evercore ISI strategist Dennis DeBusschere.
It doesn’t help that Wednesday’s gains, while nice, were not enough to move the Dow and S&P out of their respective ranges.
A combination of earnings news and rating changes fueled movements in individual stocks.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has fallen 11.3% to $ 16.42 after announcing that it will sell $ 250 million in stock.
Bank of America (BAC) has fallen 3.6% to $ 23.72 after releasing better-than-expected earnings. Concerns about cancellations and other issues help explain why stocks are trading lower on Thursday morning.
Walt Disney (DIS) is down 1.8% to $ 118.71 after being cut to Outperform’s Market Perform in Cowen.
Tesla (TSLA) has fallen 2.6% to $ 1,506.33 after records in California fell nearly 50%.
Peloton Interactive (PTON) declined 0.9% to $ 62.53 after being cut to Buy’s Neutral on UBS.
Write to Ben Levisohn at [email protected]
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